How terrible was Ningguta in the Qing Dynasty, and why did the exiles use the armor as slaves

This article is only published in Toutiao, please do not reprint

In Qing court dramas, there are often such plots, the minister commits a crime, and the emperor is angry and sends the guilty minister to Ningguta, where he is enslaved by the armored man and is never allowed to enter the customs. At this time, the guilty ministers wanted to flatter the flattering Lord Longen on the one hand, and on the other hand, they wanted to quarrel, the emperor, the ministers were wronged.

But what kind of place is this Ningguta? Why would these sinners rather bite their tongues and kill themselves before they set out? Today, let's talk about the exile of the Qing Dynasty, Ningguta

In fact, "exile of Ningguta and people in armor as slaves" is one of the five major criminal laws of the Qing Dynasty. This meant eternal torture to death for the pampered ministers.

Speaking of this exile, it began in the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty, when it was stipulated that there were three kinds of exile, namely 2,000 li, 2,500 li, and 3,000 li. Of course, this is all determined according to the severity of the crime, such as Guangdong, Fujian, Sichuan, Hainan and other places are the best choice for the emperors of the past dynasties to exile prisoners.

But in the Qing Dynasty, these places were no longer desolate, and even somewhat prosperous, obviously no longer suitable for prisoners to serve their sentences, so this Ningguta became a holy place of exile in the Qing Dynasty.

Ningguta is located in the ancient city village of Mudanjiang City, Heilongjiang Province. Strangely, there is no tower here, just as there is no fish in the fish-flavored shredded pork.

The reason why it is called Ningguta is because the Chinese language at that time was Manchu, in Manchu, "Ninggu" means the number six, and "tower" means one, so the word Ningguta is interpreted in Chinese as the meaning of "six".

So why is it called "six"? It is said that this is also related to the Qing Taizu Nurhachi.

According to legend, Nurhachi's great-grandfather Fuman had six sons, all of whom lived here, so it was also called the Six Beylers.

This is different from the Central Plains, this is the Northeast, covered with ice and snow all year round, and it is a bitter cold place with a very harsh living environment. But at the same time, this is an important border town, so naturally it cannot be abandoned. After a little relaxation, this small state began to harass in various ways.

Therefore, the Qing Dynasty not only arranged a large number of officers and soldiers, but also sent people in armor to garrison here.

What is a man in armor?

This group of people is not easy to mess with, they are actually captives of the Ming Dynasty who were defeated after the change of dynasty, and were incorporated into the Manchu army after the Qing Dynasty ruled. It is conceivable that their status will not be very high, so the Qing Dynasty imposed the heavy responsibility of garrisoning the frontier on them. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, some serious offenders will also be sent here to be slaves to the armorers.

Let's not talk about the cold weather in the Northeast for the time being, just talking about being a slave is terrible enough. But the truth is not as superficial as we seem. Many of the degraded prisoners are not like being tortured here, but more like vacations.

In the fourteenth year of Shunzhi, the imperial examination of the Qing Dynasty occurred in which the examinees and examiners cheated. The emperor was furious and ordered that the bribe examiners should be beheaded and executed, and the suspected candidates were also robbed of their fame and beheaded for public display.

Among them, there is an unlucky guy named Wu Zhaoqian, originally this case had nothing to do with him, but the emperor ordered this class of students to take the exam again.

For Wu Zhaoqian, it is not difficult to retake the exam, but when retaking the exam, each candidate is supervised by two sword-wielding guards, which is unacceptable for any scholar. Wu Zhaoqian was indignant, so he put the pen down and simply had sex with the white roll. The emperor didn't give it for nothing, seeing this white scroll was Long Yan was furious, aren't you playing tricks. So he ordered Wu Zhaoqian's crime to be cured, and exiled Ningguta and the armored people as slaves, which is known as the "Ding Youshun Tianxiang Trial Case" in history.

Fortunately, this Wu Zhaoqian's family has been an official for generations, and his family background is quite resistant. bought off the escort officer, so that he didn't suffer any major crimes on the road.

Wu Zhaoqian came to Ningguta with apprehension. I thought I was going to suffer the sin of the sky, but I never thought that it would be fine every morning when I took a roll call.

At first, he was still very nervous, for fear that this was a conspiracy, after all, as a prisoner, no one knew which would come first, tomorrow or death.

But after a long time, he found that this is really fine, what should he do.

When you're in a good mood, you can drink and party with friends who are also exiled, and recite poetry. For this reason, he also deliberately wrote in his diary: Day and night are opposite, happy like a family. It's like being together from morning to night, happily like a family.

But this is the border after all, at that time, there were frequent conflicts between Tsarist Russia and the Qing Dynasty in the northeast, and Ningguta, as an important border town, was naturally not peaceful. Wu Zhaoqian was naturally dragged to be cannon fodder, but fortunately, their family had money, so they arranged him by the side of General Ningguta, and the two of them became iron buddies, and the general felt that it was too wasteful for him to go to the front line to fight because of the fact that there was finally a cultured person here, so he invited Wu Zhaoqian to be a tutor at home.

Later, the general also opened a reading hall for him. Children from the surrounding villages come to study here, and it is said that there are also people who have been lifted among them. Gradually, Wu Zhaoqian became famous, became a guest of honor of local officials, and lived a very comfortable life.

If you don't have to worry about your quality of life, you have to meet your spiritual needs. Before Wu Zhaoqian was exiled, he had a daughter-in-law in his hometown, and he had been away from home for many years, Wu Zhaoqian missed it very much, maybe he didn't like the local girl, so he took his daughter-in-law from his hometown to Ningguta to live together, and gave birth to a fat doll the next year.

Of course, Wu Zhaoqian is not worried at all, what he is most worried about is amnesty for the world. Because he really didn't want to leave Ningguta.

But the family didn't know that they were saying good things and giving money, and they had to save him alive or dead. In this way, Wu Zhaoqian, who had lived in Ningguta for 23 years, was finally released.

As soon as I heard that my family had made a lot of money behind my back, I was even more unhappy. But after returning home, he could only write poems to remember the days of Ningguta, and after three years, he died depressed, thinking that it would be good if he could eat a bite of Ningguta's mushrooms.

You may think that Wu Zhaoqian's life is good, and he is a rich man, so he will live so happily in such a barren place, but in fact, it is not, there is a person named Zhang Jinyan, he is the military secretary of the Ming Dynasty, and after returning to the Qing Dynasty, he was involved in the literary prison and was exiled to Ningguta.

In the eighteenth year of Shunzhi, Zhang Jinyan went to Ningguta with ten singers and a large number of books. Listen, this is exile.

After arriving in Ningguta, Zhang Jinyan and the literati exiled in Ningguta formed a "Seven Sons Poetry Society". Tell them that this year is planted in this field, take good care of it, and continue to plant next year. Under his guidance, the harvest increased year by year, so the Ningguta people worshipped him as the god of grains and built a temple for him to burn incense.

It's not just farming, but you don't have to worry about eating if you have a craft in Ningguta. In the sixth year of Yongzheng, there was a case of Lu Liuliang, a literary prison that shocked the government and the opposition, his body was pulled out of the coffin and whipped, and his descendants were also sent to Ningguta. He had a grandson who was a master of acupuncture and moxibustion, and after arriving in Ningguta, he became a scarce talent, not only liked him, but even the local officials often asked him to help him see the disease. He was also made a medical officer in Ningguta.

But this court criminal can still be an official in the system, isn't this nonsense?

When the news came back to the imperial court, Yongzheng was very angry, so he ordered him to be removed from his post and demanded that he be dealt with strictly. After receiving the holy decree, General Ningguta could only do it, but it was only a formality, the salary was still paid, the work was still done, and the benefits he should enjoy were the same.

Anyway, it's more than 1,400 kilometers, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away, you can still send troops to kill me for this matter.

After Yongzheng knew about it, he acquiesced to this behavior. Not only is it about this grandson, but the court also knows about other people's happiness, but it is all symbolic and managed. As long as you don't rebel, thank God.

But then again, what is so scary about this Ningguta, and why are many people afraid to go there?

There are two points in this, the first point is that the news at that time was too closed, many people only knew that Ningguta was freezing that day, and they didn't know that the cultural life there was so comfortable. Of course, the people who came here were all criminals, and few of them were able to leave here again.

Again, the greatest test that the prisoners had to face was not the place of Ningguta, but the process of exile. Ningguta is located 1,400 kilometers from the capital. The exiled prisoners could only travel on their feet with shackles.

Qing Dynasty law required exiled prisoners to walk 50 miles a day, a distance like Beijing to Ningguta, which required them to arrive within two months.

Think about it, for two months in a row, I had to walk 25 kilometers every day, and my shoes were not comfortable at that time. The sins suffered by the prisoners in these two months can be imagined. Moreover, there are no man's lands everywhere on the way, and it is even more common for wild beasts to be infested, and some prisoners who have no money will be given special care on the road.

However, at that time, no matter where the exile was exiled, such problems would be encountered on the road, and this was not unique to Ningguta. If you want to talk about Ningguta, it may only be cold!

Most of the exiled prisoners were poorly clothed. Many of them are southerners, some are even weak scholars, or elderly officials who have worked for most of their lives.

Over time, Ningguta became a terrible-smelling, but in fact a vacation sanctuary of exile.